


Family

by sarahjacobs



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Kid Fic, M/M, Sad, its not that sad but like :(
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 01:14:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14509287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahjacobs/pseuds/sarahjacobs
Summary: Thea comes home from school refusing to talk to David.





	Family

**Author's Note:**

> the summary is crappy but I couldn’t think of somethinf

Jack smiled as he heard soft music playing inside the apartment. He quickly unlocked the door and threw his shoes into the little closet. Jack smiled as David concentrated on the sauce in front of him, stirring it slowly.

"Hey," Jack greets and presses a kiss to his cheek.

"Hey," David replies after a few moments.

Jack looks around and frowns, "Where's Thea?"

David sighs and sets down the wooden spoon. Jack suddenly feels his blood turn cold. 

"Dave—"

"She's in her room," David tells him, reaching out to hold his hand, "She won't talk to me...but I guess something happened at school."

Jack nods slowly and David pushes him towards the hallways, "Go on!"

Jack walks towards Thea’s room, taking a moment to smile at the artwork she had hanging up on the outside of it. He tried not to laugh at the new picture he knew Race had drawn and quickly took a picture of it to send to Spot. Jack knocks and waits until he hears a small "come in."

Jack slowly enters the small room. At first, he didn't see Thea, but when looking closer he saw the lump of blankets on the bed. Jack sighed and sat at the edge of the tiny bed.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asks. He only gets a sniffle in response.

Jack thinks for a moment before speaking again. "How about I tell you about my day, then you tell me about yours."

He gets no answer again but he decides to keep talking. "Well after I dropped you off at school, I went to Medda's theater, but she said I didn't need to work on anything and I could leave. That made me sad, because I wanted to paint something for her."

Jack smiled as Thea peeked at him through the blankets.

"Then I went to see Uncle Spot and Uncle Race, but they weren't home and that made me even more sad. So I went to my studio and painted by myself. And when I got home, Dave tells me my princess is sad...why is that?"

Thea shrugs and hides back under the blanket. Jack sighs and looks around the room. He notices a crumpled piece of paper on her floor. Jack leans over and slowly fixes it.

"What's this?" Jack asks her.

Thea throws the blankets off of her and looks at the drawing in his hand. "It's my family."

Jack studies the little stick figures and smiles.

"That's you," She points, "And me and Davey, then Aunty Kath and Saz, Uncle Spotty and Uncle Race...Medda, Smallsie, Uncle Charlie, Elly and Al. I couldn't fit everyone," She tells him. "I wanted to draw Mushy and Uncle Blink and Finch and Specs and Romeo."

"This is good, Thea," Jack tells her, "Why was it crumpled up?"

Thea takes it from his hands and crumples it again, tossing it to the floor. "It's not a real family!"

Jack stares at her in shock, unsure of what to say.

"Miss Lane said "draw your family and I'll hang it up outside" and I did but then Maddie told me it wasn't a real family. So I crumpled it up and told Miss Lane I did not do it. Then Miss Lane was sad that I didn't draw and I did not get to play," Thea says quickly.

"Why would Maddie tell you it wasn't a real family?"

"She asked me if Aunty Kath was my mommy," Thea sniffles, "And I said no. Then she asked me if Sarah was my mommy and I said no. Then she pointed to Smallsie and asked if that was my mommy...I told her no! I do not have a mommy!" Thea cries. "She said you can't have a family without a mommy!"

Jack feels anger and sadness all at once as Thea clings to his shirt and cries. Upset that someone made his baby feel this way. 

"I told her I had a Papa and a Davey..." Thea hiccups, "She said you can't—you can't have two dad's."

Jack rubs her back soothingly and rocks her back and forth. "Don't listen to her, Thea. She doesn't know what she's saying. Family isn't a mommy and a daddy."

"But—"

"What you drew is your family, Thea," Jack tells her, "The people who love you, they're your family. Me, Dave, Uncle Spot, Race, Medda, Smallsie, Crutchie, Aunty Kath and Saz and Elmer and Albert and—"

"Mushy?"

"Yes, Mushy too," Jack laughs, "They're your family."

Thea nods her head and pushes her curls out of her face. She gets up and grabs the wrinkled paper, folding it out for Jack to take. Jack takes it and follows her out the door and to the kitchen.

David smiles at them as they approach him and Thea runs to him. "You're my family," She tells him, stepping onto the stool beside him.

"Yeah..." David smiles and looks over at Jack who gives him a thumbs up.

"You should marry Papa," She tells him.

Jack feels his cheeks begin to burn bright red as David looks back at him with wide eyes, entire face flushed.

"Maybe not yet, princess," Jack stutters our and busies himself with hanging up the artwork on the fridge.

Thea shrugs and goes back to watching David make dinner. 

—

Jack tip toes back into his room, quickly changing into shorts as David places his book on the night stand. Jack smiles at him as he crawls underneath the blankets.

"So..." David says, slowly laying down beside Jack.

"So..." Jack says, pulling David closer to him. "About what Thea said—"

"I wouldn't say no," David smiles, his face flushing lightly, "But if this is how you're gonna ask then I just might..."

"I love you," Jack mumbles as he presses a kiss to David's forehead.

"I love you too," David says, placing his cold feet against Jack's legs.

"The only reason you would marry me is to use me for warmth!" Jack accuses, trying to push David away from him.

"You're so warm!" David argues, pressing his face to Jack's bare chest. Jack sighs and allows David to press his cold feet back to his legs.

"Night, Davey."

"Night, Jackie."


End file.
